HOUSTON - From KHOU TV and www.khou.com - A Harris County Sheriff’s deputy shot and killed a shoplifting suspect who was trying to flee from a Walmart Thursday night.

Loss prevention observed a group of women stuffing items inside their purses at the Walmart in the 14000 block of the North Freeway at West Road around 10:15 p.m., according to authorities. They notified an off-duty deputy who was working an approved extra job as security.

The deputy confronted the suspected shoplifters as they exited the store, but the women would not cooperate. One woman struck the deputy with her purse and they all fled.

The deputy chased one woman to her car and tried to stop her from leaving the parking lot. He opened her door and commanded her to stop, but she would not give up.

The woman allegedly put the car in drive and revved forward, dragging the deputy.

“I think it knocked him off balance and, in fear of his life and being ran over, he discharged his weapon at that point,” said Thomas Gilliland, Harris County Sheriff’s Office.

Gilliland said it was clear that the deputy was law enforcement.

“He was clearly marked in uniform as a Harris County deputy. And identified himself as the suspects were leaving the establishment,” Gilliland said.

The injured woman fled the parking lot, but eventually stopped at The Worthington at the Beltway apartments in the 1300 block of Greens Parkway. Paramedics with the Houston Fire Department tried to revive her, but could not. She was pronounced dead at the scene.

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